Bangkok 2 Days Itinerary

[Andree Vandestreek]

Tohelp you plan your trip and make the most of your visit, below is my suggested itinerary for Bangkok. It will help you tackle this sprawling, hectic city in a way that gets you on and off the beaten track so you can peel back the onion that is Bangkok and discover why I love it so much.

Tour More Temples

Bangkok has a lot of beautiful temples. Hire a tuk-tuk driver to take you around for the day to see the temples. This is often the cheapest and most efficient way to see the temples throughout Bangkok. You can even split the cost with other travelers to save money.

Visit the Malls

Okay, hear me out: Malls in Bangkok are more than just malls, they are social hubs (thanks in part to the air-conditioning) where people eat (mall food courts in Bangkok are delicious), drink at bars, see movies, sit at coffee shops, and even go bowling! A lot of life in the city happens in the malls and each has its own character.

You can also catch fights at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium, which seats up to 5,000 people, on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Between the two stadiums, there are fights going on every night of the week.

Take a Food Tour

Bangkok has an incredible food scene and is one of the best foodie destinations in the world. The best way to learn about the food culture (while devouring some samples) is on a food tour. Bangkok Food Tours has a variety of tasty tours where you can try everything from street food to exotic fruits. Tours start from 1,650 THB.

Day Trip to Ayutthaya

Ayutthaya (pronounced ah-you-tah-ya) was founded around 1350 and was the second capital of Thailand (it was the capital before it relocated to Bangkok). Unfortunately, the city was destroyed in 1767 by a Burmese attack and there are only ruins and a few temples and palaces still left standing.

While you can see the highlights in a couple of days, with four or five days you can start to peel back the layers of this chaotic city and start to see why Bangkok really is one of the best destinations in the world.

Book Your Flight

Use Skyscanner to find a cheap flight. They are my two favorite search engines because they search websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is left unturned!

Book Your Accommodation

You can book your hostel with Hostelworld as they have the biggest inventory and best deals. If you want to stay somewhere other than a hostel, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates for guesthouses and cheap hotels. Two of my favorite places to stay are:

But I digress. You feel like you at least need to make a quick appearance and now need to know what are the best places to visit in Bangkok!

While I think you can visit the city in just a few days, I really do think that even just a small added amount of time can make a difference in your final impression.

Depending on where you are coming from will depend on when you arrive. We got in around midnight local time and considering we were traveling in Thailand with a baby and 3 year old, saying we were tired upon arrival is a bit of an understatement!

In the afternoon, head to the Jim Thompson house. This is a low stress, easy, and relatively quick activity for day 1.

Ironically, this home was actually built by an American (spy). However, he built it in a traditional Thai style and in beautiful teak wood! I found the tour fascinating learning about why Thais build their homes in a very specific and intentional style, as it was my first glimpse into the Thai culture.

Expert Traveler Tip: On the Chao Phraya River, there are ferries and the Express boat. The orange line (Express boat) and the blue line (the tourist boats) both go up and down the river. The ferries go across the river. However, they do NOT use the same piers! Therefore, if you need to ask for help, make sure you clarify what kind of boat (Express/Tourist or Ferry) you are looking for.

You can easily spend the next several hours/ the majority of your morning at the beautiful and intricate Grand Palace. I could have spent my whole time just marveling at the stunning architecture of the buildings! Despite many of the official buildings not being open to the public, there is still plenty to see and walk around, the most notable probably being the Emerald Buddha.

The Grand Palace is just as strict (if not more) than many of the other temples in Bangkok on what to wear. Again, shoulders and knees should be covered and you should be dressed moderately. If you are not, they do have sarongs for rent to use while you are touring the palace grounds.

Traveler Tip: Avoid going on the weekend if you can. While mornings supposedly also have less tourists any day of the week, just know that this is just one of those Bangkok tourist places that is going to be packed, busy, and possibly very overwhelming due to the amount of people.

The famous reclining Buddha (also known as the Golden Buddha) is truly a sight to behold coming in at 150 feet long and 19 feet tall!

Like many famous temples, there are other buildings in the complex in addition to just the reclining Buddha. Spend about an hour total seeing everything there is to see in the area before heading off.

The Bangkok flower market (Pak Khlong Talat) is technically in the above DIY walking tour, but if you have either decided not to do that walk, or it was just too long, I still recommend making your way over to this enormous, gorgeous, and fascinating market. It can be a short Tuk Tuk ride and a nice reprise for your nose compared to the smells of Chinatown!

While there is still plenty that can be done IN Bangkok, I want to maximize your time and experiences on this itinerary for Bangkok for 5 days, so I recommend considering taking at least one of the next two days to do an easy day trip from Bangkok. We chose to visit Ayuttaya (day1) and a Floating Market (day2).

We went through Khanom Bangkok (no, not sponsored and yes I paid full price for our tours) and were generally quite happy with all our guides and experience. Overall, I would recommend looking into them if considering a private guide for Bangkok and surrounding areas. I was impressed with how willing they were to work with us and even went out of their way to secure two car seats for both our kiddos.

An Ayuttaya day trip is a phenomenal way to get out of the city and into the past (especially if you are a history buff or just want a break from Bangkok). The ancient Thai capital (once the largest city in the world) is full of temples and buildings, many of which are gorgeous ruins. They were extremely reminiscent to the Angkor Wat temples in Cambodia, but on a lesser scale.

However, I have to say that I REALLY enjoyed our day going to the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market this time around and is just another reason why a Bangkok 5 days itinerary is great; it gives you a lot of flexibility!

You could find countless posts about what is the best floating market, but after doing quite a bit of research, I knew I also wanted to visit the famous Train Market. Therefore, for the sake of locations, it made sense to do the Damnoen Saduak market as the floating market.

Once upon a time, Bangkok was a city of canals, not entirely different from Venice. The canals were the main artery ways of transportation around this section of the city, but most have now been filled in, or even turned into real roads today. However, there is still a small network of canals hanging on.

These canal tours typically start in the above Thonburi area and go even deeper, taking you to areas few tourists go, allowing you to really see daily life.

If you are looking for places to visit in Bangkok at night, there are no shortages of things to do! As noted from earlier, depending on your energy levels, any of the following things to do would be great ways to fill your evenings

I obviously really enjoyed seeing Bangkok from the river. A night cruise is another fantastic way to see the city in a different light (literally). Wat Arun, the Grand Palace, and other buddings are stunning in the evening light and is a great way to kick back after a long day on your feet.

Grab is like Uber or Lyft and is a great alternative to Taxis, which are a pain to deal with (unmetered cars, drivers who try to scam you, etc). Grab, on the other hand, uses both the rideshare technique but also Taxi drivers that allow you to agree upon a price prior to pick up. Since you can rate all the drivers (even the Taxi ones with Grab) you can have a stress free ride exactly to where you need to go.

As discussed above, one of my favorite parts of travel is the thrills of the unknowns. That even includes the moments of panic when you realize you have absolutely no clue where you are in the middle of the madhouse that is Bangkok Chinatown!

No matter what your thoughts, feelings, hesitations, or excitement is about Bangkok, the best thing you can do when heading there is to not go in with a preconceived view of what your time will be like. Go into it completely open minded and willing to experience each fun, strange, quirky, and new experience in and of itself!!

When it came to traveling, I was a rookie. My wanderlust had been confined to scrolling through Instagram, drooling over pictures of exotic destinations that I thought were too expensive for me. That changed when my roommate, a seasoned explorer with a knack for finding hidden travel gems, introduced me to Under30Experiences.

I first discovered Under30Experiences when my roommate returned from a trip to Greece in June 2023. However, it wasn't until I joined her in Santorini at the end of her Greek journey that I really understood the magic of this travel company. U30X welcomed me for a wine-tasting experience and a truly delicious Greek family-style meal. At that moment, as I enjoyed the feta cheese and the sound of glasses clinking, I knew I wanted to travel with this company, too. All I needed to do was choose where to go next. That's when I picked Thailand.

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